Crows say young ruckman Reilly O’Brien will be fit for start of pre-season after shoulder surgery
HE’S been tapped just twice for AFL duties, but Adelaide has vowed to stay the course with emerging ruckman Reilly O’Brien as Sam Jacobs’ successor as it prepares for both big men to come out of contract together next season.
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ADELAIDE has vowed to stay the course with emerging ruckman Reilly O’Brien as Sam Jacobs’ successor as it prepares for both big-men to come out of contract together next season.
Jacobs, 30, has shouldered an incredible workload as the club’s sole ruckman for the best part of eight years and has battled a sore back this season.
Last year he was right in the frame for All-Australian selection but like the team, has struggled to carry that into 2018.
But he did respond big-time against West Coast a fortnight ago when he had the better of both Nic Naitanui and Scott Lycett, then split the honours with Richmond’s Toby Nankervis on Friday night.
“I think he’s had better seasons and he would acknowledge that but over the last three weeks he’s started to return to some of his better form,” Adelaide ruck coach Matthew Clarke said.
“So that’s probably a broad summation. He’d want to be playing slightly better but he’s tracking in the right direction.”
O’Brien, 22, remains squarely in Adelaide’s plans for the future and the club opted for him to have season-ending shoulder surgery three weeks ago so he would be fit for next pre-season.
“He played with a minor shoulder for three or four weeks in the hope it would get better but ultimately the best option was surgery,” Clarke said.
“And part of the thinking was if we pushed it any longer then it would compromise his next pre-season.
“So at this stage he will be back fully ready to go for next pre-season. He had a great pre-season this year, really strong performance, and was playing pretty well in the SANFL but ultimately it’s hard to do so with one shoulder.
“I’m really happy with his progression, he’s played a couple of games and quite possibly could have played more but this season hasn’t panned out for him well because of the injury.”
The Crows are facing a serious fight to stay in the finals race this season after slumping to 7-8 following Friday night’s loss to the Tigers.
Their run home includes Geelong (home), Brisbane (away), Melbourne (home), Port Adelaide (home), GWS (away), North Melbourne (home) and Carlton (away).
“We’ve got to clearly win probably a minimum six games going forward, you start to have to factor those things in and ultimately we’ve got to get back to playing a level of football regardless of the numbers,” Clarke said.
“We’ve got to play a style of footy and level of intensity that warrants finals and if we can’t do that then it’s irrelevant anyway.”
O’Brien has played two AFL games in his career - both in late 2016 - when Jacobs was injured but they have never played in the same team together. The other ruckman on the Crows’ list is Paul Hunter who is yet to debut.
Jacobs arrived at Adelaide from Carlton in 2011 and has played 172 games for the Crows for a career-total of 189.
In that time Adelaide has tried Josh Jenkins, Shaun McKernan, James Sellar, Kurt Tippett in pinch-hitting roles in the ruck while Jack Osborn, Angus Graham and Luke Lowden have all been delisted without playing a game for the club.
Adelaide’s permanent ruckmen since 2011:
Sam Jacobs (172 games, signed until 2019)
Reilly O’Brien (2 games, signed until 2019)
Paul Hunter (0 games, currently rookie listed)
Luke Lowden (0 games, delisted in 2016)
Jack Osborn (0 games, delisted in 2015)
Angus Graham (0 games, delisted in 2014)
reece.homfray@news.com.au
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